“Picture” was quite an endeavor. The moment after materializing the idea into a script over 1 year prior to production, I demanded only the best out of myself. That equated into heavy sacrifices. To help fund the film, I subscribed to the poor man’s diet of frozen burritos and pasta for 4 months. I managed to live on about $45 a month on food, an accomplishment in my eyes. I gave up on maintaining any consistent relationships, stopped sleeping more than a few hours at a time–all the things a normal film student does.
Left: Me, Right: Karen Ross (producer)
Apparently, people liked it. During the Spring 09 show, “Picture” won awards for “Best Producer”, “Best Production II”, and “Best Cinematography”. It was also nominated for “Best Art Direction”, “Best Director”, “Best Picture”, and “Best Sound”.
The crew that worked on the production was beyond fantastic. On the first day of shooting, the wind decided to blow at 50mph gusts, blasting all of the equipment, crew, and otherwise with sand. Yet during the whole shoot, I didn’t hear a complaint from anyone. Amazing! It paid off!
Camera: Sony EX1 with a Letus Adapter and Nikon primes
The Snowmass Balloon Festival. Totally cool experience in the stunning Colorado Rockies. I was privileged to go shoot this piece and absolutely loved the experience. Save the date next year, this is a festival worth going to!!!
Shot on the Red Epic.
I have some killer “night glow” footage that I will post (sometime soon).
From SoxPlace.com,
“SOX PLACE is for you…
the gutter punk, the train rider, the homeless youth,
you who just need something to eat,
you who just need a safe place to crash
Whether you’ve been on the street for
one day or one decade,
SOX PLACE IS FOR YOU”
ATA Clothing, ata-clothing.com, is selling Sox Place tees to support this great organization. They have something called the “100% program”, meaning they give 100% of the profits to the organization. Awesome.
Ahhh, the fall. Always a time of somber emotions and cooling weather. This short piece closely examines autumn beauty often hidden in plain site… leaves. Dressed in fall colors for a only a slice of time, there is much to be observed and appreciated.
Southside is a cool place. A photographers playground, a serene destination hidden in plain site. A short walk away, interstate 70 traffic speeds by. Further North, Denver International Airport moves thousands of people daily all over the world. Yet amongst the constant motion, Southside stands still.
Shot on Canon 5D Mark ii with a 17-40mmL and a 30 year old Kiron 80-200 f4 Pentax K mount lens.
A short film about inspiration, momentary love, art. Harmony was developed over 3 weeks and shot in Wash Park, Denver. Overall, the production process was wonderfully simple. Planned camera movements were simple and subtle, only two actors were required, and the whole film took place in one location.
The biggest challenge was the timing. I wanted the project to take place during the transition of summer to fall, which is hard time to predict in Colorado. A sudden cold front can instantly change the scenery from green to dead with little or no transition of color. We got lucky when we had a moderate storm come in the week before production, enough to loosen a few leaves off of the trees. During a few shots (many of which didn’t make the final cut unfortunately) leaves were falling around the actors, a very cool effect.
This film was planned, shot, and edited in Denver Colorado. Shot on the Canon 5D Mark ii with a few Canon lenses, primarily the 100-400L.
A quick piece about an abandoned farm in Eastern Colorado.
This video is a part of my exploration in using wide lenses for video on the Canon 5D Mark ii. The majority of shots in this piece were shot on a 17-40mmL Canon lens. As you can see in the weeds, the DSLR does NOT like fine details. Aliasing is everywhere. It hides behind compression on the web, but the original h.264 files.
Biggest lesson learned: anything close to the camera (5-10 feet, with a few exceptions) is usually excellent shooting material, anything further needs to carefully considered and probably shot on a different camera.
The town of Cairo, IL is one of the most history-rich and diverse places in the US. The economy has been struggling for decades, parts of the city are in disrepair, but there are individuals that resist all of the negative elements and demonstrate what human determination is all about.
Song, “An Island, A Penninsula” by Bitcrush available for purchase here
I had the opportunity to shoot a project with the Listen Foundation ( www.listenfoundation.org ). They have a phenomenal program helping hearing impaired children achieve normal lives through a technique called Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT). After recently sending a final cut of the project, the foundation president sent me a kind email:
…You put great effort into ensuring all facets of the program were covered, all the key players were interviewed, all our questions answered and issues addressed. You were willing to listen to our comments and make changes accordingly, but also add your own keen sense of what a video should be to ensure we had a professional product that we could be proud of. Working with you was very enjoyable – you offered great advice, were very flexible and patient, and made sure interim and final cuts were available for us to view, and added music that really underscored the mood that we were trying to create. You are clearly a great talent, and I wish you well in your future endeavors. Please feel free to use this as an endorsement of your efforts on our behalf and share it freely. You did a wonderful job for us, and I am very grateful.
–Mark
